Impossibly Young
by Tempeck2
Summary: The 5 times Evan Bourne seemed impossibly young and the 1 time they find out he actually is.
1. Chapter 1

_I've never done a RAW story before, but I really wanted to try it. I'm pretty sure I'll be doing a 5 in 1 story here so stay tuned for more chapters. Thanks for reading, bye._

It was just another normal day at a WWE RAW arena. Another city, another show, and more fans than you can shake a stick at. John Cena was just finished with his storyline and he was walking backstage to one of the Superstars locker rooms, normally he would go to his own dressing room and get ready to go or get ready to do a match, but since the show was almost over and he had nothing else to do, John decided to go find some of his RAW friends and ask if anyone wanted to hang out or something.

He was sure that the only ones on stage right now were The Edge and Randy Orton, so he made up his mind to wait until the show was over and ask the two Superstars if they wanted to join him and who ever else was coming.

As Cena rounded the corner to the biggest of many locker rooms in the current Tennessee arena he started to hear odd noises coming from inside the closed locker room doors. Nothing too weird, it just sounded like someone was struggling. John made no assumptions before he opened the door, but when he finally pulled the door open, what he saw made his eyebrows shoot clear up to his military cropped hair.

There had to be at least a dozen Superstars in the locker room, and they were all in a circle around someone who was doing something that sounded quite straneous. Most of the guys were laughing and some of them were shaking their heads in amusement, but the one thing everyone in the locker room was doing, was counting.

Being curios, John walked closer to the masses of his colleagues and tried to see what was going on. John is a big guy, but even he was having trouble getting a good look at what exactly was happening.

He did see most if not all of his friends there. He went around the group of people naming them off as he went. Let's see there was: John Morrison, CM Punk, Kofi Kingston, Big Show, Mark Henry, Cody Rhodes, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, The Miz, MVP, R-Truth, Ted DiBiase, and Zack Ryder. All in a circle around someone who was having a hard time doing something.

John moved over to where CM Punk and Kofi Kingston were and put his hands on their shoulders. "What's up, fellas?" John asks as he tries to see what was going on.

Both Punk and Kof turned and greeted John and Kofi answers his question.

"Hey, we were wondering where you were. We were gonna come and get you, but this was just too awesome to pass up." Kofi says as he turns so he's looking at John.

"Yeah, we had to see if he could really do it." CM says not quite taking his eyes off of the fascinating spectacle before him.

"You had to see if who could do what?" John asks suspiciously.

"See for yourself." Kofi says in a slightly amused tone. He steps back a little and points to the center of the group of WWE Superstars.

John looks in and see the one and only Evan Bourne, or Matt Korklan to his close friends and family, trying to escape from a tightly bound straight jacket.

John watches with fascination and astonishment at what the 'Kid' was doing and then he suddenly realizes that Evan was probably the source of the struggling noises he heard earlier.

"What the-" John starts to say as he watches Bourne struggle against his restraint.

Punk turns toward Cena and says, "I know, right? It's like way too interesting to look away, but at the same time it's like totally weird."

John finds himself only nodding as he watches his young friend struggle to get the jacket off.

"How long has he been at it?" John asks.

"Around 9 minutes, he only has until 10 minutes until someone has to break him out. He said that he could escape in that amount of time, so that's what the counting is about." Kofi explains from behind Cena.

John doesn't know why, but something about seeing the 'Kid' all wrapped up in something so restrictive felt wrong, and it made John a little worried. He knew that everyone in the Superstar bracket considered Evan as a little brother. Even the Divas did it from time to time. It seemed that he was younger than everyone else. He was so innocent and naive, that it sometimes felt like everyone wanted to shelter him from the world.

John realized that the counting was getting a little louder as the Superstars got closer to the 10 minute mark. He was kind of glad because the scene did not appeal to him at all.

As the count down got to 30 seconds left, John could hear the guys saying things like, "Come on Ev. you got this." or "Who's gonna cut him out before he hurts himself." But most of the guys were still laughing and counting.

All of the sudden Evan stops. He looked up to the ceiling, that was devoid of anything but a couple of hooks that were meant to be used to hang up dress clothes and other things of that nature.

John could almost see the wheels turning as he watches Evan look from the actual floor-to-ceiling lockers that were maybe 6 ft away, to the hooks on the ceiling. John could see what was going on in Evan's mind as Evan made quick calculative assumptions as to whether his idea would work.

John nor the others had noticed that Edge and Randy Orton had entered the locker room. But when Cena looked through the faces of the Superstars in the room, wondering if they had picked up on Evans insane idea as well, He made contact with Orton and he could see the look of uncertainty in his eyes.

With only ten seconds to go. Evan moves back a few steps and tells the few people in front of the lockers to move to the side, PLEASE. He said PLEASE. He could potentially kill himself in a few seconds, and yet he says PLEASE. Kid.

Evan looks up one more time and then starts off at a run. The guys have started to count down, "Ten... Nine... Eight..." But after eight, everyone becomes a lot more quiet, as the high flying, idiotic, death-stunting, CHILD! Does something miraculous and terrifying.

Evan "Air" Bourne, sprinted the 6ft to the lockers, but instead of jumping and using the lockers as leverage for his feet, like John thought he would, Evan jumps up at the last second, basically runs up the lockers and propels himself off of the lockers and twists in mid air.

By shire luck and some pixie dust, the belt buckle of the jacket becomes caught on one of the hooks that Ev. had been contemplating earlier.

The Kid then uses his weight as a sort of anchor and pulls his arms into his chest at the same time. He easily slides out of the straight jacket and falls the 8ft to the floor, gracefully landing on his feet.

The whole locker room is dead quiet. No one moves or talks, they all just stare at the Kid who just did one hell of an amazing escape that would have made Houdini proud.

All of the sudden a beeper is heard and Evan looks up and asks, "Did I make it in time?"

The way that he asks and the look on his face, made him look impossibly young. His wide brown eyes searched the faces of all of his friends and expected an answer.

All at once, it was like noise just returned, and everyone was yelling and cheering and moving closer to the Kid to pat him on the back or ask him how he did that.

John was not one of these people. While everyone else moved forward, John moved back. He finally stopped moving a few feet from where everyone else was. He quietly let out a breath that he was unaware he was holding.

He scanned the faces and looked quickly for Evan's, just make sure that the Kid was actually standing and uninjured.

In his true Viper ways, Randy Orton was all of the sudden beside John and he was also staring intently at Evan.

"That was... new." Orton says to John, but doesn't take his eyes off of the Kid that he often found himself protecting.

"New... Terrifying... Warranting of a lecture later on. Yeah, it was." John says as he watches some of the Superstars dissipate still talking about what just went on.

Evan sees his two friends close to the back wall and quickly walks over to them while accepting pats on the back and other such things.

"John, Randy did you see that? How Cool was that straight jacket?" Evan says as he gets that impossibly young look on his face again.

Cena lets out a little laugh and shakes his head. While Randy just rolls his eyes and smirks at the pint sized Superstar.

"Only you would be fascinated by the straight jacket and just let your incredible stunt pass." John says as he fondly ruffles Evan's hair.

Evan smiles sheepishly and shrugs his shoulders.

Randy takes in a small breath and then glances over at John before gesturing to the door with his head.

"Hey Kid, why don't we go and hit up a pizza joint?" Randy asks as he walks forward and puts a friendly arm around Evan's shoulder.

"Really?" Evan says practically vibrating from excitement.

Everyone else in the locker room decided to join the Small Superstar and celebrate his ingenious escape at the pizza place.

Everyone has cleared the room, when John Cena finally makes his way to the door. He stops just before he leaves and looks back at the straight jacket that had encased his surrogate baby brother, just a few minutes before. He chuckled and shook his head one more time.

He didn't hear the quick footsteps behind him until someone said his name.

"John? You coming?" Evan "Air" Bourne, the death-defying, High-flying, idiotic, impossibly young, KID, that John Cena and many other WWE Superstars felt responsible for, asked.

"Yeah Kid, I'm coming." John says as he puts an arm around his little brother and walks out of the locker room doors. "I just have one question... Where the Hell did you get a straight jacket?" Cena asks as they turn the corner and walk to the exit of the building. Their voices fade until they are no more.

It was just another normal day at a WWE RAW arena, in another city, after another show, and after all of the fans had cleared out. The only difference now... was the extra straight jacket hanging from the ceiling.

-fini-

_To Be Continued. Thanks again for reading._


	2. Chapter 2

**This is the second chapter to Impossibly Young. I hope to finish all six installments at some point. Please stick it out with me. Thank you for reading.**

It was another normal day in a RAW arena in Tampa, Florida. It was one of those rare days when the superstars of RAW got the day off. They were suppose to be out enjoying the day. Tampa weather and Tampa everything else should have been enough to pull the superstar's minds off of anything that even remotely reminded them of work, but that only seemed to effect about half of the regular RAW locker room.

John Cena, Randy Orton, Kofi Kingston, John Morrison, and The Miz were all walking the backstage of the aforementioned arena area. While they were suppose to be enjoying some R&R out on the town. These superstars figured that since everyone was suppose to be in town, they could get in some practice/gym time. It wasn't like they did that enough, even though they did that every single weekday, and twice as much on weekends.

It was kind of an ingenious plan. They had been instructed to stay out of the arena area itself, but no one said anything about the gym.

Their only mistake was to assume that they were the only ones to have this idea.

As the five superstars walked around the arena in search of the gym, some strange topics of conversation started amongst them.

Namely: Which person in the WWE universe scares you the most?

"Seriously?" John Cena asks as he looks toward his friends.

"Yeah, no seriously dude, there are a lot of superstars that scare the crap outta me." Kofi says in that Jamaican accent of his.

"I know what ya mean man. Some employs here kinda make me want to run and scream sometimes." John Morrison adds as they all round a corner to another hallway.

"You guys are professional wrestlers. How could anyone scare you?" Mike 'The Miz' asks.

"Oh don't play like that Mikey. I know for a fact that a whole bunch of people scare the daylights outta you."Randy says with a twitch of the lips that might just count as a smile someday.

"What! I'm not scared of anything. Or anyone for that matter. I am a professional. I don't get scared." Miz says with confidence.

The other four superstars look at each other with raised eyebrows and Cena remarks, "Sure Mike. Nothing scares you. Except... I can remember a day, some time back, when you were having a story line with our boy Orton here. I think I saw some ones knees shaking quite a bit that week."

The other wrestlers, sans the Miz, all snicker at this and Miz looks a little embarrassed.

"Whatever man, I was not scared of Randy. I was just playing it up big. I wanted everyone to know what a stud I was for going up against 'The Viper'." Miz says as he gives a cocky grin.

Randy surreptitiously comes up behind Miz and makes like he's about to RKO him. Instead he just pulls him into a headlock and starts to laugh at the Miz's lame attempts to shake him off. The rest of the superstars laugh as they watch their friends duke it out.

"So Kof. Who are you most afraid of?" Morrison asks as they all round the corner to yet another hallway.

"No contest, Big Show." Kofi says in a definite tone.

"Big Show? Are kidding me? The dude is like a giant teddy bear." John Cena says as he shakes his head in amusement.

"Yeah, he couldn't hurt a fly... outside of, you know, all four hundred pounds of him landing on you after a pin." Randy says as he finally lets go of the Miz.

"That's easy for you guys to say. You're all considered big guys... well everyone besides Mike." Kofi says with a smirk as the Miz's smug look is wiped off of his face. "He's not quite so big if you have the ability to look over him, but I'm not even half his size. He could literally squash me at any point."

While still not convinced that the Big Show was all that scary the superstars turn another corner on their journey to the gym.

"Alright, Morrison. Who scares you?" Cena asks when the guys finally quiet down about the Big Show.

"Umm... I don't know if she counts, but I think the person who scares me the most in all of the WWE is probably... Vickie." Morrison admits with a little embarrassment.

"Vickie? As in Vickie Guerrero?" Randy asks.

"Yeah." Morrison replies.

"You're afraid of her. Like in a fighting sense?" Cena asks.

"No, not in a fighting sense. For one, I could never fight her because... well because she's a girl." Morrison replies.

"Aww. That's cute Morris. You're mommy taught you not to be mean to girls." Miz says with a flare of mocking.

"Why yes, Mike. My mother did says something like that, but I think that she wouldn't mind if I broke that rule just one time... to beat snot out of you." Morrison says. He smiles brightly at Miz and laughs along with everyone else when the Miz gives them the one fingered salute.

"Ok... so then what's the other thing?" Cena asks as they continue walking down the hallways.

"Hmm?" Morrison asks turning from taunting Miz to look at Cena.

"You said 'for one' implying that there is another reason that she scares you." Randy says as he watches the whole conversation unfold.

"Oh, right. For one, no hitting girls, and for two... it's just- well, it's kinda like... It's her voice." Morrison says stumbling on the words as he tries to put his thoughts into sentences.

"Her voice is kinda grating." Kofi comments as he thinks back to the last time he had to listen to Vickie speak.

"Ok, that makes sense I guess." Cena says as he and the other stars turn another corner.

They finally see the entrance to the gym at the far end of the hallway. They continue to walk toward it.

"Alright, Orton. Your turn. Who scares the pants off you?" Miz asks.

"No one." Orton answers simply.

"No one? No one at all?" Morrison asks suspiciously.

"Yep, no one." Randy replies.

"Whatever." Cena says disbelievingly. "I know who scares you Randy."

"No you don't because no one does." Orton says in a dismissive tone.

"That's not what you told me last Sunday." Cena says as he glances over at 'The Viper'.

"What's this? The great and powerful Viper is afraid of one of our fellow wrestlers?" Kofi chides as he watches Randy carefully.

Randy glares one of his famous 'Viper glares' at all of his friends, but it unfortunately has no effect on them.

"Either you say it or I'll tell them." Cena says smugly as he watches one of his best friends wall of confidence slip from his face.

"Fine... I'm- I... I'm kinda a little bit afraid of..." He mumbles something that no one can hear.

"I'm sorry what was that?" Morrison asks in anticipation.

"One more time, I didn't catch that." Miz smirks.

"I said... I'm a little afraid of... Hornswoggle." Randy says in a quiet voice.

Everyone is silent, and then they all simultaneously start to laugh.

"You, the great Viper, is afraid of the little midget guy from NXT?" Kofi manages to get the words to his question out in between his laughter.

"Whatever man... The guy scares me. He's so little, and mean looking." Orton says and shakes his head at the ridiculousness of it all.

They finally reach the entrance to the gym. The guys had all had good laughs about who they were afraid of and why. They hadn't expected it to take them so long to find the gym but they were finally there. It wasn't until they had actually gotten to the door that Randy realized that they had forgotten to ask one person the question that so far everyone else had answered.

"Ok, Cena. Your turn. How are you afraid of and why?" Orton asks as they all head into the gym.

"Oh man, I was hoping you would've forgotten that I hadn't gone yet. Hmm..." Cena says contemplating the question. "Does it have to be someone I'm afraid of, or can it be someone I'm afraid for?" Cena asks. The guys all look at each other and shrug.

"Whatever you want man." Morrison answers.

Just before Cena is about to answer the question the guys all realize that the lights in the gym are already on. They must not be the first ones there. Who else would have the idea to come and train on their day off.

As the superstars get ready and start to train, Cena spots something over by the bars. "Guys... what is-" Cena says but he cuts himself off. He realizes that he recognizes the shape of the person who is on the bars.

It was none other that Evan 'Airbourne' Bourne hanging upside-down on the bars. He had a book in his hands and headphones in his ears. If the Superstars who had just entered the gym didn't know any better they would assume that Evan was reading his book upside-down and just chilling hanging on the bars. That happened to be precisely what he was doing however.

All of the Wrestlers were shocked that anyone was here to begin with let alone that it was their friend and little brother figure, hanging upside-down reading.

"Did you see him leave this morning?" Randy asks aloud to whoever was listening. One by one the superstars all shook their heads 'no'.

"How long do ya think he's been hanging there?" Kofi asks as all of the Wrestlers abandon the idea of practicing and start making their way over to their young friend.

Cena was the first to make it to Evan. At first it looked as though the young high-flyer might be asleep since he didn't move at all and they couldn't see his eyes from where they were standing.

"Evan?" Cena asks tentatively. There was no response from the young wrestler.

"Do ya think he's actually asleep like that?" Miz asks as he looks around for some kind of pole or something they could use to get their friend down.

"I don't-" Cena starts but then stops suddenly when he hears a noise coming from where Evan is hanging.

Suddenly Evan turns a page in his book but still doesn't realize that he has acquired an audience.

"Is he actually reading like that? No way..." Morrison says.

Randy looks over at Cena and shakes his head in familiar exasperation. "We better get him down before he hurts himself. No telling how long he's been hanging there."

Cena nods and then goes up closer to Evan. "Evan?" Cena says in an attempt to get the high-flyer's attention. No luck.

"Hey, Bourne!" Miz yells a little louder. Nothing works.

Evan is too high up to just grab and John is a little afraid of what will happen if one of them climbs up to get to him.

"Hey, John." Kofi says from somewhere to Cena's right. The Jamaican Superstar holds up a sparing pole and tosses it to John. "Thanks Kof." John says.

He is painfully aware of the possibilities of this going wrong and Evan ending up with some kind of broken body part. Chance he'll have to take however.

John looks at the distance between where Evan is and the ground and makes an executive decision that it really isn't that long of a fall.

So he raises the pole to an appropriate length and pokes Evan.

Never has any of the five superstars ever seen someone so startled by something before. The result of poking Evan was first the dropping of the book. Evan looked startled and a little shocked that their were other people in the gym, and he hadn't heard them come in. At first he looked slightly annoyed but then he realized who he was staring at. "Hey guys!" Evan says a little too loud due in part to the fact that he still had his headphones in.

The five superstars start to complain that he's being to loud, but it's a sure bet that he can't here any of them. He looks at them a little confused, but then the realization hits him. He can't hear what they are saying. He holds up a finger and then does something that gets John Cena, Randy Orton, and probably all the other wrestlers heart rates up.

Evan, completely oblivious to the problem of falling and breaking a body part. Grabs one of the bars with his hand, swings a little using his body weight to propel himself, and flips backwards off of the contraption. No one has time to stop him or breath, in the moments when Evan's feet aren't touching the ground. Fortunately, it was a perfect dismount, and the practice high-flying monkey sticks the landing.

Nobody realizes that they had all held their breathes as they watched their young friend flip in the air. Evan, still oblivious, takes out his earphones and stoops to pick up his book. He stands up straight, book in hand and looks at his friends who are all staring at him in shock. And dammit if he didn't have that impossibly young look on his face again.

"Hey guys, didn't hear you come in. What's up?" Evan asks innocently.

The five superstars turn to each other and shrug with a hint of exasperation.

"We... came to train. How long have you been hanging like that?" Cena says cutting to the chase.

"Um... I've been here since six. I was just catching up on some reading. Why? What time is it now?" Evan says as he smiles that familiar ever present smile of his.

Kofi looks at his watch and his eyes widen a little at the time. He refrains from answering the time question for a few moments. "You've been up there since six?"

Evan nods.

"Well... it's nine now... so how ya feeling?" Kofi says nonchalantly trying to keep it as light as possible. He knows of the big brother protective bond that Orton and Cena and all of the other superstars including himself feel toward Evan.

Cena and the rest of the Wrestlers turn menacingly toward Evan.

"You've been hanging up there for three hours?" Cena asks rhetorically. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe you should get down?"

Evan gets that impossibly young look on his face again and says, "Um... no? Sorry. I was gonna get down, but then I started to read and I dropped my bookmark, and it just seemed easier to finish the book then try and find my bookmark... so... oops?" Evan says innocently.

The only problem was that it was all literally innocent. He couldn't help but be the kid that looked like a lost puppy dog.

That didn't mean that Cena was any less angry, but Orton seeing the impending argument, intervened. "Well how about we buy you a kindle with a built in bookmark, so this kind of thing doesn't happen again."

Cena's meaningful glare softens a little at the thoughtful look on Evan's face when a new toy is brought up.

He glances at the other superstars and sees the same look of exasperation and bemusement that he supposed that he had on his face.

With the situation finally defused and Evan no longer hanging upside-down fifteen feet in the air, the superstars, including Evan, resume their original idea of working out.

When everything is finally settled and the wrestlers had been working out a while, the guys finish their reps and decide to call it a day. As they are all getting ready to leave and get cleaned up for their plans that they made for after their gym session, The Miz remembers something. "Hey wait! Cena. You never told us what you were afraid of."

John had honestly forgotten, but instead of answering he turns toward Evan when he sees a quizzical look pass his features. "When we were walking here to work out, someone made up the question of who we were afraid of in the WWE universe, and why."

Evan nods in understanding he smiles and then says, "I know who all of you are afraid of."

The superstars all look at each other but most of them are shaking their heads 'no' in a way that they assume that Evan really doesn't know. On the contrary though, he nods his head 'yes' and then starts to name them off one by one and their fears.

"Kofi, you're afraid of The Big Show. Understandably so. I mean, the guy has a heart of gold, but he's like hugnormous. Miz, you're afraid of Randy, or a least you were. I don't see why, but that's your business. Morris, you're afraid of Vickie, because for one, you have no defense against her whenever she comes out with Dolph, she is a girl... kind of, and for two... her voice. It really is extremely grating. Randy, you say that you're afraid of no one, but in actuality you're afraid of Hornswaggle. You think he's mean, and unnaturally small. Both of which are true." Evan says all of this in only a few short breaths.

All of the superstars are stunned that the kid knew all of this information that they had just learned about each other. They each separately realized that they had probably told the young superstar about their fears individually and he had them all committed to memory.

"Ok, kid. You know our fears, so... who are you most afraid of and why?" Kofi asks expectantly.

Evan looks thoughtful for a second before that impossibly young look creeps back on his face.

He glances around their surroundings like he's expecting the person he is about to name to pop out at any second. "I am afraid of... The Undertaker." Evan says admittedly. "Always have been. Always will be."

Surprisingly none of the Superstars laughed or contradicted his statement. They all nodded their heads in agreement. Truth was, The Undertaker scared everyone to some extent. Evan's reason was his eyes. Whenever he did his whole, 'rolling his eyes so you could only see the whites, and scaring the crap out of everyone' thing, it really did scare the crap out of him.

The superstars started out again. They took the now partially familiar hallway back out of the arena.

That's when the Miz remembered something again. "Wait, Cena. You still haven't told us who you're afraid of." The Miz gives a thoughtful look, but then turns toward Evan. "Wait, you didn't tell us what he was afraid of either."

Evan smiles and then shrugs.

"That's because John isn't afraid of anything." Evan says admittedly.

This doesn't surprise Kofi, Morrison, Miz, or Orton, but Cena looks a little surprised. "Not Giants, or Midgets, or Vipers, or Vickie, not even the Undertaker." Evan continues.

The other superstars accept this answer and start to move on to a different subject.

Cena on the other hand falls back a few steps and ponders what he just heard.

It wasn't true. John was afraid of something. Or more likely he was afraid for someone. In the past year that Evan had been a superstar, he had not only become one of John's closest friends, but also his little brother. It was a testament to all of them that Evan had asked and remembered who they were all afraid of and why. John had never assumed that he would ever be afraid for someone else's well being, but he supposed that this was what being a big brother was all about.

It's true, John Cena wasn't afraid of giants, or midgets, or vipers, or Vickie's, or even the Undertaker, but when it came to being scared for someone. He was more afraid then anyone else.

Randy Orton had seen John fall back in step and made it a point to catch his gaze. When he got an unsure look from his friend it told him all he needed to know about what he was thinking. Randy glanced quickly at Evan who was talking to the other superstars and then back at John. Surprisingly enough Randy knew what John was afraid of. He raised his eyebrows at John and nodded at the affirmation he got from his friend. He knew exactly how Cena felt since he shared that feeling of fear for their youngest companion too.

Unfortunately for both of them there was nothing that they could do about Evan's dangerous tendencies.

All they could hope for was to protect him when they could, and be there for him when they couldn't.

The six superstars exited the building knowing a little bit more about their friends then they had when they walked in.

It was another normal day in a RAW arena in Tampa, Florida. It was one of those rare days when the superstars of RAW got the day off. They were suppose to be out enjoying the day. Instead they were together enjoying each others company and learning about each others fears. Cause that's what friends are for.

-fini-

**That was it. This story will be continued. Please review. Thanks again for reading. Bye.**


	3. Chapter 3

_This is so long over due, that I perfusily apologize to anyone who is still following this story, I promise you that this is still something worth reading, and thank you for doing so. Here is the third chapter. Thanks again!_

Every Superstar and Diva knows that it's not exactly easy to work your way up in the WWE universe. After you go through years of extensive and complicated training just to get into TOUGH ENOUGH, and then even more extensive and complicated training to get from a small time gig like ECW to a huge gala like RAW, you still have to work your way up to a huge brand named superstar like John Cena, The Rock, Stone Cold, and so many more huge names. The rise to fame is not an easy road to travel. For some people the way is paved in money and gold, but still for others getting to the top is a daunting task.

Somewhere in a RAW arena, in Sante Fe, New Mexico. Superstars John Cena and Randy Orton are walking around after post show. This is the time where all the superstars and divas are either suppose to be at a hotel, or on their way to their next venue in a different state. Where they weren't suppose to be was anywhere near the very place these two were at. It's a sure thing that the two had been seen by security and it was a known fact that they were wondering around the arena, but really... if you were a security guard getting paid far too little to care if two guys were walking around the arena, especially these two guys, would you stop them?

As they were walking around the arena, it became apparent to anyone who happened to be watching, which no one was, but it became apparent that the two ginormous men were actually looking for something. This should be the point in time where it is realized that their constant companion and surrogate 'little brother' was no where to be seen. Ever since the start of Evan Bourne's career it had become well known throughout the locker room that Bourne was always trailing Cena and Orton. It wasn't a problem for the two veteran superstars, but it was common knowledge that Evan was protected by the two and that on a regular basis he was with them, but not now.

"Okay, how are you not freaking out right now?" John Cena asks his longtime friend and co-worker.

"What makes you think I'm not freaking out?" Orton asks as they check through yet another locker room.

"Gee, I don't know Randy. The cool composure, the non-panicky presence that is radiating off of you, or maybe it's- no that can't be it... well maybe it's because you look utterly disconcerted about this whole situation! MAYBE THAT'S IT! Yeah that must be it." John yells battling with himself for control of his emotions. He knows that underneath Randy's calm exterior that he's freaking the Hell out that they can't find their charge.

It wasn't often that John Cena lost his cool in the midst of something that had nothing to do with a story line. This told Randy of just how worried that John was. And if that wasn't a clear sign, there was also the fact that he was wringing his hands against his shirt, and whenever they would stop to look through a door John would pace frantically until Randy shook his head signifying that Evan wasn't in that room.

"Okay, It's official. When we find the little twerp, first he's getting an Attitude Adjustment for leaving without telling anyone, and then he's getting RKO'd because it's taking so freakin' long to find him!" Cena says pacing behind Randy as he opens yet another door.

"Amen to that. Who knew watching out for one person was such a painstakingly, worrisome task?" Randy asks as they come to another door and still don't find their friend.

"Do you think we're taking this too far? I mean, Evan's not five. He's practically an adult." Cena says looking slightly disturbed at the realization.

"He is an adult." Randy says matter-a-factually. "But this is Evan we're talking about. The kid who likes to jump off of tall things, and risk his life all the time just because it's fun."

Randy opens yet another door, but seeing that no one is inside, he keeps walking. "I mean, if someone isn't there to watch his back, he might actually get himself killed." Randy says glancing over at John.

"True. But he has been acting weird lately. I mean, I went to talk to him after his last match yesterday, and I found him sitting at his locker staring at it." John says as he opens a door and then closes it.

Orton stops and looks at Cena with a confused glare. "Why is that weird?"

Cena stops also and replies, "Morrison said he'd been sitting there close to twenty minutes. And for all twenty of them... he didn't blink once."

"He didn't blink? I'm still not seeing it." Orton continues to open and close doors looking for his friend.

"They said he didn't blink, didn't move, and worst of all... he didn't talk." John says hearing the anxiety creep into his own voice when he opened yet another door, but was unsuccessful at finding Evan.

Again Randy stops walking all together and stares at Cena with raised eyebrows, "He didn't talk? Like, at all?"

"It's what I'm saying." John says as they continue to walk and check almost every room in the arena.

They walk through about eighty-two percent of the large building looking for their young friend. With each passing door that does not reveal Evan sitting there doing something dangerous, or innocent, or stupid, the more worried the two Superstars got.

As they reach yet another door, Randy stops Cena by placing a hand on his shoulder. John turns to him with a questioning look. "Has it ever occurred to you that maybe he's not here?"

Cena raised his eyebrow in confusion and then shakes his head while saying, "He wasn't at the hotel, he didn't leave for the airport, he would have told us if he was going out to run some errands... where else would he be?"

Randy gives a contemplative look and then shrugs his shoulders. He decides that Cena had a point, and continues on to the next door.

"Do you ever wonder why we always do shows in such ginormous venues?" John asks after five minutes of silence.

"We have to, don't we? I mean we have like a hundred people that make up just the cast of RAW." Randy says opening another door. "If we didn't work in such huge places, there wouldn't be enough room for everyone, right?"

"Ninety-three actually."

"Ninety-three, what?" Randy responds looking over to where Cena is standing by another unopened door.

"What?" Cena asks turning toward Randy.

"Ninety-three, what?" Randy asks again.

"What are you talking about?" Cena asks as he opens another door and then closes it again.

"We were just talking about the size of the venues, and you said, 'ninety-three, actually.' Ninety-three, what?" Orton asks walking up to where John was and looking him in the eye.

"Dude, you are hearing things. I didn't say ninety-three anything. I didn't say ninety-three at all." Cena says with a look that just screams, ' what drugs are you on?'.

"Whatever, man. Look, we've been through the whole building. We've looked everywhere. I say we just go back to the hotel and wait for him to show up. That way when he gets back, we can be in the comfort of others as we beat his ass to a bloody pulp for running off." Randy says as he opens yet another door in search of their young friend.

"We have checked just about everywhere..." Cena replies as he checks another door.

"Didn't check the main arena."

"True, but what are the odds that-" Cena stops himself as he glances over at Randy who was watching him open another door.

"You didn't say that did you?" Randy shakes his head 'no'. They both simultaneously whip their heads around and find none other then Evan 'Air' Bourne, standing behind them leaning against the wall.

Randy and John both look at each other, and then back at Evan. He looked okay, and didn't have any distinguishing marks on him to suggest that he had gotten into any danger in the past few hours that they had been searching for him. He was leaning up against the wall, with his headphones in, and his eyes drawn to the screen of his _I-pod_ touch.

John blinks rapidly trying to decide if the kid was really there or not, but Randy just sets his face in a glare and walks back to where Evan is standing.

"And just where the Hell have you been?" Randy asks. John can see all of the pent up worry that he had addressed Randy with earlier was now showing through the 'Viper'.

Evan didn't look up from whatever he was doing and answered, "I've just been chilling in the main arena. I didn't realize that you guys were here. I think I may have gotten a bit lost in this game."

Randy glances back at John with an exasperated look. Since he now knew that Evan was safe and right in front of them, John just rolled his eyes and shrugged at the 'Viper'.

Evan had this interesting look on his face, it was something John and Randy hadn't ever seen on their young companion. It was almost status quo that the kid was perpetually happy, but now, he look... upset? No, frustrated? No, it was just something that was different, something that was totally unexpected; but what was it?

John finally pushed out of the temporary nonchalant attitude that he had adapted and stepped toward his 'little brother'. "What's up kid? Why didn't you tell us you were going out?" John says as he watches Evan give an exasperated sigh and then press another button on the touch screen. John has a distinct feeling that the sigh is more toward the device, and less toward his question.

Evan doesn't respond to Cena at first, but he says in a voice that neither John nor Randy had never heard him use before.

"I don't know, I was just feeling kinda pent up in the hotel, I figured I'd get out for a little while and get some fresh air." Evan has yet to look up at either of them, but John and Randy don't let that detour them from asking the kid questions.

"Okay, that still doesn't explain why you didn't tell us you were leaving in the first place, or why for that matter that you didn't pick up your phone that we have been calling for the last few hours."

Despite not looking up to see the expression on Randy's face, Evan could tell that 'The Viper' was thoroughly pissed off at him, and that no matter what explanation he gave for not telling them that he was going out, nothing would be a good enough excuse.

"Yeah, well... I just needed some time to... I don't know, think I guess." Evan's voice hadn't changed from that unrecognizable tone, and John and Randy were actually starting to seriously wonder if there wasn't something wrong with their young companion.

"Evan-" John starts but is abruptly cut off by Evan who had suddenly started walking away from the two superstars, and back in the direction of the main arena.

Instead of questioning each other about the oddities that they were seeing in the high-flier, John Cena and Randy Orton turn and follow Bourne, but say nothing.

Once in the main arena the two superstars quickly realize that while they had been following Evan at a close pace, they seemed to have lost him when he had entered the arena and again they were at a lose as to where he had gone.

That is, until they heard a noise that could only be described as extremely annoyed coming from the other side of the rather large roped off mat. The two superstars walk over to the other side, just in time to see a _i-pod_ being thrown rather forcefully somewhere in the bleachers.

Randy looks over at John with a questioning look on his face. When they reach the other side of the mat, they see Evan with his knees drawn up to his chest, his arms wrapped around his knees, and his head resting on top of his bent legs. All in all the kid looked... he looked...

_'Defeated.'_

That was it. The looks that couldn't be identified earlier were looks of absolute defeat. It was such a foreign emotion on the face of the death-defying youngster that neither superstars had thought of it, originally.

Now that they knew what they were up against the only question that John Cena and Randy Orton had left was: Why?

John took the initiative first and walked silently over to the young superstar. Randy followed suit only seconds later and then they both sat on either side of their young friend.

"Tough game?" Cena asks, hoping to lighten the mood a little.

"Angry Birds..." Evan says as if that explained everything. In a way, it did, the game could be damn hard and both veteran superstars knew it.

"So... please tell me this is about something other than that stupid game." Randy says as he glances over Evan's bowed head and meets Cena's eyes. He asked a silent question: _'What's wrong with him?'_

John knew the unasked question that Randy had for him, but he had no idea what was wrong with the kid. John shrugged but then set his sights on getting to the bottom of what ever was distressing Evan.

Evan shrugs his shoulders as well, but tried to tell his friends the problem. "I... well- I mean, it's not... it's not that important..." Evan stutters as he feels the heated stares of both over-protective 'big brothers'.

"What happened? Was someone mean to you? Did you get into a fight, or something?" Randy asks. At any other time, it would have been almost laughable that the 'Viper' was asking questions such as these, but now with the distress clear in Evan's voice, he knew that now was not the time to joke.

"No... no, nothing like that. I- I just got called into McMahon's office... It was..." Evan finally looks up and just stares into the darkness of the arena.

"You got... What? When? I didn't hear anything about-" John says suddenly very anxious. It was never really a good thing when one of the staff got called into McMahon's office, for any reason really. John looks at Orton and realizes that the 'Viper' was just as worried and anxious as he was.

"You weren't suppose to, it was early this morning, I wouldn't have even been there if it wasn't my meeting. They pulled me out of weight training and took me to see him while you guys were still in with the trainers." Evan says turning to John and then Randy in turn.

Their previously anxious features turned from worried to angry. McMahon knew that the three superstars didn't like to be messed with, separated, or talked to without having the support that they had grown accustomed to between the three of them.

"What... um, what did he want?" John asks almost afraid of the answer. He knew without looking that both him and Randy were utterly terrified of the thought of McMahon either releasing Evan, or worse trading him to _Smackdown_, or some overseas wrestling corp.

Before either of the superstars could voice their fears Evan took a deep breath and then says, "He wanted me to know... that, I'm getting a push..." Evan says breathlessly. All at once, Cena and Randy's angry exteriors turn from angry to excited.

"What? Evan that's great... that is great isn't it?" Randy asks as he sees that Evan's face looked anything but excited.

Evan stands up abruptly and turns to the two people that he values most in the world. "Yes, that is great, but he also told me that if for any reason this push doesn't work out... Well, let's just say that he made it clear that any other organization is just a phone call away..." Evan says sullenly.

"This is a last chance push?" Randy says as he feels the residual anger come back. He couldn't believe this, and by the look on Cena's face he wasn't the only one.

"Well what with the whole ' You were only really hired to job' thing. He said it wasn't likely that I could take this career to a place where I could be... big. He said that this was... um.. well, the proverbial 'it'." Evan says.

And that's all it took. Evan's face adapted into that impossibly young look that he usually got whenever he was feeling particularly, Evan-y. Whenever he was happy, or sad, or lonely, or apparently just plain defeated, this look was something that John and Randy were pretty sure they would never get used to.

"OK... Okay, well then, we'll just have to make sure that you get the push." John says after a few moments of silence.

Evan looks up at the two superstars questioningly. He sees the determination in both their eyes and is blown away by the unbridled loyalty he sees. He's speechless and a little embarrassed to think that if he shared his problem with his two best friends that they would laugh it off and not care, was kind of... well, laughable right now.

For the first time all night Evan's face began to take the usual happy, and exuberant likeness that everyone had grown accustomed to.

"Okay... Okay.. I- thanks guys." Evan says as a rosy colored blush starts to make its way up his neck and across his cheeks. He has that impossibly young look on his face again, but this time for a completely different reason.

Randy holds out his hand and Evan grabs it in an attempt to help the 'Viper' up. In one quick motion Randy has Evan in a loose head lock and is berating him for leaving without telling them, once again. Only this time, Randy doesn't sound mad at all, only amused, and slightly relieved.

John watches from his seat on the floor as Evan wrestles his way out of Randy's hold and starts to go on the offense. John couldn't believe it. He was actually a little too close for comfort to losing his 'little brother'. It was hard to take in that the next few months could be detrimental to everything that he had worked so hard to preserve. He couldn't let that happen though, and he wouldn't, he decided. He would help Evan to his fullest extent and then help him some more no matter what.

All of the sudden Evan stops his impromptu match with Randy and looks out into the abyss that is the arena. He sighs and shakes his head.

Randy misinterprets it as a sign of defeat again and puts his arm around Evan's shoulders. "Don't worry kid. Cenation over there and I would never let ya go that easy. You're gonna do fine. Remember that, alright?"

Evan blinks in confusion, but then smiles and shakes his head again. "Nah, I know you guys got my back, and I can't describe the gratitude. I was just thinking... 'Crap... I threw my _I-pod_ out there'." You can hear a face-palm in the background and Randy and Evan don't have to turn around to see what kind of looks that John is making.

Randy turns around and holds out his hand to help John up, as Evan runs out into the darkened arena to where he thinks his _I-pod_ might have landed. Orton can see the distress clearly written all over Cena's face.

"Don't worry. He's gonna be fine. In what universe would we let him go anywhere without us?" Orton asks as he watches Cena's features go from worried and anxious to calm and determined.

All of the sudden his face turns back to anxious when he hears a yelp of pain, and a crash that sounds oddly like someone tripping over several seats.

"Ow... that hurt." Is all that they hear.

'Yeah, it's gonna be tough, but they'll make it.' They think to themselves.

"I'll go get the maintenance men, they probably know where the lights are." Randy says as he turns to the arena exit.

"And I'll help boy wonder..." John says he plays a ridiculous game of Marco-Polo in an attempt to find the death-defying, young superstar.

Every Superstar and Diva knows that it's not exactly easy to work your way up in the WWE universe. After you go through years of extensive and complicated training just to get into TOUGH ENOUGH, and then even more extensive and complicated training to get from a small time gig like ECW to a huge gala like RAW, you still have to work your way up to a huge brand named superstars like John Cena, The Rock, Stone Cold, and so many other huge names. The rise to fame is not an easy road to travel. For some people the way is paved in money and gold, but still for others getting to the top is a daunting task.

Somewhere in a RAW arena, in Sante Fe, New Mexico. Superstars John Cena, Randy Orton, Evan Bourne, and the entire maintenance crew of the building look for an _I-pod_ that was thrown away to a dark and unforgiving arena. It was a hard task, just like other hard tasks that the boys would have to face in the near future that were already hard, and therefore just getting harder. But luckily they had each other and the ninety-three other staff members of the RAW universe to fall back on. Now all they had to do was master _Angry Birds_ and they'd be all set...

_-__fin-_

(TBC)


End file.
